Today, competition in every industry is on the rise. And this holds true even in the franchising space. In order to remain competitive, every franchise needs to have a good marketing plan in place.
However, it isn’t uncommon for franchise owners to be a little complacent with marketing, because their business works under the umbrella of a well-established name in the market. They feel customers would know where they are and will use their products or services when they require them. However, this isn’t a case. Modern-day consumers are extremely busy and also tend to be highly distracted.
In recent years, there has been a paradigm change in how consumers engage with businesses, and your marketing plan needs to be in-sync with these changes. Reaching your targeted audiences in 2019 is a lot about having a solid franchise marketing plan in place. Here are some aspects you can keep in view while doing this:
As a franchisee, you might have access to the main Franchise’s Facebook page. Chatbots are a major trend this year and if you haven’t setup one yet, it’s time you adopted this technology. These online tools can be set up to answer customer queries or requests automatically.
You are able to set chatbots to answer common queries such as your business hours, contact details, appointment times etc. Using these tools is a definite benefit because customers are able to get an immediate response which encourages them to visit your business when they need to. In addition, it saves you a lot of time from having to respond to these questions.
But this isn’t all that chatbots can do. They are also able to automatically notify prospects about sales, schedule appointments and more. While this technology cannot completely replace your sales or customer service teams, it’s a great way to reduce their workload and offer an excellent customer experience.
Influencer marketing is an extremely effective way of reaching new audiences and engaging them in online discussions about your products or services. The idea behind this type of marketing is to reach a wider audience and build credibility in the online space.
If you to largely cater to local customers, it is important to find influencers within that area to talk about your brand. These are the people who interact with your target audience regularly. If you haven’t including influencer marketing into your digital marketing mix yet, now is the right time to do it.
While this may seem like a contradiction, the fact is that advances in technology allows brands to personalise the experiences consumers have with their business. In the franchising space, you are operating under a well-known banner. When you focus on encouraging your audiences to connect with your business on a more personal level, it significantly improves your chances of improving sales and profitability.
While creating a marketing plan for 2019, prioritise the areas where you are able to create a more personalised experience for your customers. This could mean doing something as simple as training your staff to be courteous or remember names of regular customers.
The idea is to do something unique but which lies within the parameters of your franchise network’s guidelines. The important thing is to evolve and be dynamic in your approach to marketing in these demanding times.
If you want to know more about franchising, feel free to get in touch with us at The Franchise Institute. You can call us on 1300 855 435 or fill in this contact us form and we’ll reply as soon as we can.
Thanks for reading,
The Franchise Institute Team
1300 855 435
